Column

We need to shift how we think about sustainability before it becomes a privilege and not an expectation Many of you might’ve seen recent misleading statements on Instagram about how watching 30 minutes of Netflix has the carbon footprint of driving roughly four miles. I doubt that any of you read that and went “damn […]

Asian American food and culture are fixtures until they are othered America loves Asian food and culture until they don’t—and efforts to save local Chinatowns and support Asian American businesses during Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month reproduce a relationship between Asia and America that is based on consumption and commodity, but without […]

The Model Minority Myth is engineered to tell one version of the Asian American Dream What is the Asian American dream? Since the 1960s, the Model Minority Myth (MMM) has praised Japanese and Chinese immigrants not only for their seamless integration into American life, but also “empirical evidence [of their] success” drawing from “high-status occupations, […]

One-size-fits-all solutions to mental health conditions need to stop Whenever I choose to forgo my responsibilities and open Instagram I am greeted by one of three things: an exciting, yet impossible makeup tutorial, a picture of an old friend from middle school or posts regarding any of a few mental health conditions. I used to […]

Soldiers don’t get to pick their own battles, so stop treating them like they do Being willing to put your life on the line is the ultimate sacrifice. Standing in the face of danger for your country is an incredibly noble thing to do, and veterans need to be treated like it, regardless of the […]

Approximately 25,000 barrels of toxic chemicals were found off the coast of LA after sitting for decades Cancerous sea lions. What might sound like a Cards Against Humanity card has actually turned out to be the key to a major, albeit terrifying, discovery. Last month, it was finally confirmed that thousands of barrels filled with […]

Media coverage of the opioid epidemic has significant impacts on policy and public sympathy Like 2 million Americans, George Floyd struggled with an opioid addiction. However, courtrooms and comment sections are devoid of sympathy for individuals like Floyd. Instead, his struggles with addiction have been put on trial.  The way Derek Chauvin’s defense transformed the […]

Posting your vaccination isn’t just feed fodder I got stabbed two  weeks ago, thanks to Pfizer. It’s been a long time coming, this vaccine of ours, and I can say with confidence that we’re all breathing a collective sigh of relief. We’re finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. After […]

We need to stop judging people by foreign language interviews Professional baseball players come from all over the world and speak many different native languages; it’s part of what makes baseball such a great game. Thirty percent of baseball players hail from outside the U.S. Many of baseball’s newest stars are players not comfortable with […]

Native Americans are excluded and mischaracterized in COVID-19 data, undermining the severity of the pandemic’s impact on their community How does the collection and portrayal of data influence public perception of an issue? The presence of data during a pandemic is a source of consistency and comfort. It connects you from your screen to every […]

California’s air quality problem will get worse, especially for people of color, if the government doesn’t take meaningful action Especially in recent years, California has often been portrayed as the most environmentally conscious state. A variety of things have contributed to this portrayal, like Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive orders on the environment which have prioritized […]

Maybe it’s high time we ghost the Ghost Snapchat is a wondrous little app. From its inception, users marveled at the novelty of posting a Snapchat story or sending a dog-filtered snap to their friends. In the past decade Snapchat has dominated as one of the most popular social media apps.  I was barely starting […]